Innumerable Fires by Yeni Mao problematizes notions of danger and safety in relation to the architectures we inhabit, be that public or private spaces. On a physical and symbolic level, the first is usually conceptualized in relation to threat and the second to protection. In contrast, Mao rearticulates the various dynamic interactions that constitute both spaces and the bodies that occupy them. The exhibition’s title alludes to the material interrelations of the human (body and soul) with the mineral and natural world, and can also be read in relation to the diverse forms fire can take: as the center of domestic warmth, combustion when interacting with other materials, or the state of physical change that its presence implies. The latter is one of the main concerns in the artist’s practice, seen as a passage from one state, concept or space, to another.
All the works on the show were created by way of antagonistic processes and an unexpected mixture of materials. Sustained in a semi-figurative and semi-abstract latency, they allow for a constant reconfiguration. The wood structure can be seen as a membrane that unites these spaces through division, and yet also encloses one place within another place (the gallery). Mao employs this structure, the cave or first shelter, to imply protection over the fragility of human bodies, and as an “opulent box” where our precious objects and memories are stored. Inspired by the artist's own studio, this installation keeps and displays various pieces that allude to human, animal, vegetable or mineral bodies that interact with each other through a translucent and minimal aesthetic.
